Monday, November 7th, 2022, 8:30 A.M.
I groggily sat up, forced awake by the alarm I set going off inside my head. I sat there in bed for a while, looking around my small room in Horunka's inn. I'm still here… well, if there was any doubt before, it's gone now. Sighing, I got out of bed, and opened my inventory to re-equip my gear. After getting annoyed with the messy state of my inventory, I left my room and went down to the first floor of the inn.
To my surprise, there was someone else sitting at the bar. I hadn't expected many other people to have already left Starting City, let alone be this far out. There was no doubt that the person was a beta tester, but that was all I could tell; they were wearing a brown cloak that concealed all of their features. I left the person alone and made my way to the door; I didn't have any reason to speak to them, nor did they seem very interested in speaking.
"'Scuse me!"
… Or not. The person's voice was nasally, and obviously feminine, which I definitely wasn't expecting. Turning to face the girl, I still wasn't able to get a good look at them, as her hood obscured a good portion of their face. However, all I needed to see was her cheeks: three marks on either one, like whiskers.
"... Argo? That you?" Argo was an info broker in the beta test, and I was somewhat friendly with her. I felt like I didn't have to worry as much over what I said to her, probably because she was fairly indifferent most of the time. I never fully understood why she decided to be an info broker of all things during the test, but she did it well; I think there were a couple Skills that pertained to it, as well. She'd be extremely important from now on, too; spending some Cor on the details of a monster or a quest would be a lot more desirable now that it meant life or death.
"Yep. Guessing you're Rei-chan, judging by your voice. Plus, ya don't look much different."
I shrugged. "Yeah…" I quickly sent Argo a friend request before sitting down next to her. "So, um… what's it like back in Starting City right now? After… that, I moped around in a side street for a few hours before getting out of there… I imagine it's chaos." To be honest, I couldn't care less about what everyone back there was doing right now, plus I didn't want to remind myself about what had happened, but I felt like I needed to ask.
She just gave me a look. Rolling my eyes, I opened my inventory and materialized a 50 Cor piece, flipping it at her. She caught it deftly between her fingers before speaking. "Last night it was a madhouse, yeah. Though it was quieter than a mouse this morning, which really was more unsettling."
I looked down at the bar, silent. The situation hadn't completely sunk in for me.
"Ah, right. Kii-bou was asking me earlier if I'd seen you yet…"
My head snapped up. "Really? Has he left Horunka already?"
She blinked, not expecting my sudden response. "Eh, yeah. Left about… hour and a half ago. Knowing him, he's probably most of the way to Tolbana already."
"... Figures… Though, I've never known him to be up so early."
Argo gave an interested hum, but didn't say anything else, so it was silent for a few moments.
"… Er, I should probably get going too… I'll have to grind a bit before heading to Tolbana." I stood up and started making my way towards the door.
"By the way, if you come across anything that's changed from the beta, no matter how small, PM me as soon as you can. Prior experience is gonna make people lazy and complacent, and it'll get a lot of betas killed."
"... Yeah, I will." I nodded somberly, and headed out the door.
I spent about an hour grinding the «Dire Wolves» that populated the fields around Horunka, which got me a bit past level 2. The wolves, like the boars, had fairly simple attack patterns, and I had little issue fighting them. Upon levelling, I received 3 stat points, all of which I put into Agility. Immediately, I saw my HP go up slightly, and I felt a little lighter on my feet. There were only two stats that could be increased—Agility and Strength. They were both fairly self-explanatory; Agility made you faster, Strength made you stronger. Both increased your HP and your inventory's carrying capacity, but Strength granted more of an increase than Agility. Since I used a dagger, my build would be high in Agility.
I returned to the town to sell off any drops I didn't need. The wolves occasionally dropped «Wolf Fangs», which would be useful in upgrading my daggers later on, but everything else was vendor trash to me. After selling off everything, I made my way to the weapon shop to buy a backup dagger. The shop only sold «Bronze» weapons, which did slightly more damage than the starter weapons, but had less durability. They were also very vulnerable to corrosive attacks, which was alarmingly unsafe, considering the town's proximity to «Little Nepents», which used said attacks.
Fortunately for me, I wouldn't be fighting any of the vicious plant monsters, so the corrosive weakness wouldn't be a problem. My starter dagger was starting to wear out, but hopefully it would last until Tolbana, which had a quest that gave a decent dagger that would last until the third floor or so. After buying a dagger, I went to buy a few potions before making my way out of Horunka. If I was lucky, I wouldn't have to do much fighting; the monsters around Tolbana were around level 3 or 4, so fighting them would be risky. On top of that, there was a small chance for a stronger version of the wolves I had been fighting to spawn, called an «Alpha Dire Wolf».
… Come to think of it, I never equipped a Skill in the second starting slot. As I was walking, I opened my menu and navigated to the blank slot in question. After some deliberation, I decided to equip the «Sprint» skill. It enabled the «System Assist» to push the player to higher speeds, and levelled by, well, running around a lot. Having a high «Sprint» level would make travelling a lot faster, as well as escaping from danger much easier. «Searching» would be extremely useful as well, but I decided to get that later, since it wasn't really necessary for most of the first floor.
I started running, the system pushing me a bit faster than I had been able to run before. At level 1, it wouldn't be much of an increase, but it was still noticeable. Up ahead, the sides of the road looked oddly clear of any wolves, which meant one of two things: either someone had fought them recently and the wolves hadn't repopped yet, or there was an alpha nearby. I doubted that it was the former, because the player that killed them would probably still be in sight if that was the case.
As if on cue, an «Alpha Dire Wolf» jumped out into the road in front of me. I had forgotten just how big the alphas were—the beast was about a meter tall at the shoulder. I skidded to a stop and dropped into a defensive stance while I drew my dagger. The wolf charged at me and lunged, reaching out its claws; I stepped to the right and pulled my dagger across its side. Since I hadn't used a Sword Skill and the cut was shallow, it did minimal damage, barely denting the thing's health bar. It quickly turned around and lunged at me again, and again I dodged, but it nicked my arm with its claws, taking about 5% of my HP. While it didn't sting like an actual cut, there was some dull pain, certainly more than there was in the beta.
Ignoring the pain from my arm, I held my dagger next to my side, the point facing forwards. The wolf took a bit longer to recover from its second attack, and I activated the Sword Skill «Lunge». I jumped forwards and stabbed the glowing blade into its main weak spot, the neck. By landing a critical hit, my attack took a good third out of its health, and it turned its head and snapped at my hand. I was frozen in place due to the skill, but fortunately I was just out of its reach.
As soon as the post-motion delay wore off, I jumped backwards out of the immediate range of the wolf. Once again, the wolf charged at me, and I readied myself to move out of the way. However, instead of lunging at me like it had before, the wolf jumped. And it jumped high; it was easily three meters in the air. This new attack took me by surprise, and I realized far too late that the arc of its jump led straight to my head. I moved to the side at the last moment, which saved me from being pinned down, but I still got a nasty swipe to the face. Despite the system blocking most of the pain, it still stung a bit, probably due to its claws, and made me somewhat dizzy. After shaking off the dizziness from the hit, I turned around to find the wolf picking itself up off the ground; since it had swung its paw at my head, it was unable to land properly. I took the opportunity and activated «Lunge» again, hitting the wolf's neck and taking another third of its health.
I quickly backed off to wait for the wolf to attack again. It approached more slowly this time while growling. Since I had just used the same Sword Skill twice in a row, I decided that it would be best for me to use a different Skill, to throw off its AI. Once the wolf got to only a few meters away, it started running. It snapped at my side as it ran past me, but I stepped out of the way and activated «Slice», pushing along with the Skill as it dug along the wolf, taking about 25% of its health. It quickly spun around to attack again, but I was faster, stabbing it directly in the face without even using a Skill. The stab was enough to deplete the rest of its HP, and the giant wolf shattered into light blue shards.
Once the wolf was dead, a small result popup appeared in front of me. I got a good chunk of XP and Cor for killing the wolf, getting me up to about a third of the way to level 3 and mostly making up for what I spent on my backup dagger and potions. I also got a couple «Wolf Fangs», as well as a «Long Alpha Claw», which I had never seen before. I closed the results screen, and nearly fell over when I saw my HP.
It was at around 55%, almost in the yellow zone. That one hit from the wolf's jump attack took almost 40% of my health. I immediately opened up my inventory and got out a potion, drinking it down while grimacing at the nasty taste. The potion would get me back to near full health across a couple minutes.
I need to tell Argo about that attack as soon as I can… I'd never seen or heard of that jumping attack during the beta. Moving out of the way like I did earned me that smack to the face; had I not moved, it probably would've been less damaging, but I would be pinned under the wolf. Fortunately, the normal «Dire Wolves» didn't seem to have the attack, but I certainly wouldn't be the only one to encounter an alpha wolf. It would be dangerous to take the time to send a message out in the middle of the field, so I started back on my way to Tolbana, running as fast as I could.
Fortunately, I only encountered a couple normal «Dire Wolves» for the rest of the trip to Tolbana. As soon as I got within the city, I started writing a message to Argo.
「I've got some new info. I came across an «Alpha Dire Wolf» soon after I left Horunka, and it had a new attack that I've never seen before. It charged like it normally does, but instead of lunging, it jumped about 3 meters into the air, aiming straight for my head. It would've pinned me down, but I moved out of the way at the last second. Instead, I got hit in the face by a strong swipe from its paw, and it took about 40% of my HP. The attack probably wouldn't be too hard to avoid if you were prepared for it, but at a low level and with a build like mine, it's seriously dangerous.
Also, I got a «Long Alpha Claw» from it as a drop. Any idea what that does?」
After looking over the message once I was finished, I sent it to Argo. I got a reply almost immediately.
「K. Thanks for that, that jump attack sounds really dangerous. I'll look into the claw, but my first guess is it's used as a special crafting material. Don't worry about paying for that—consider it even with what you told me.」
With that done, I closed my menu and started walking around Tolbana. I looked at my clock, and it was about 1:30. At this point, I realized I hadn't eaten anything for a whole day, and immediately I could feel the pain in my stomach. I rushed to find the bakery, and bought a couple pieces of the cheap black bread that they sold. It was dry and bland, but it was better than starving—at least, virtually.
Come to think of it... what about our bodies in the real world?… We'd probably have to be moved to hospitals. Maybe that's what the two-hour connection grace period was for… I shook my head, trying to get the thoughts of the real world out. Worrying wouldn't do me any good; I had to just keep going forward.
I made my way over to the main square and sat down on one of the benches. Tolbana was completely devoid of life save for me and the NPCs, from what I had seen. It wasn't surprising; most people were still 9 or so kilometers back, and anyone who had made it up here would probably be out grinding at this time of day. I wasn't really in the mood to do any grinding after my trip here, so I just wandered around for a while.
After a few minutes, I got a message back from Argo about the claw that I had gotten. According to one of the NPCs in Horunka, large wolf claws were quite strong, and were a suitable material to make a weapon out of. There wasn't any indication to how skilled a smith would have to be or if there were any specific requirements, but it couldn't be too difficult, considering that it was a drop from the first floor.
I closed the message and made my way to the NPC blacksmith's building located near the main square. If the NPC couldn't handle it, maybe a player smith would be able to once some showed up. Just before I went in the shop, though, another player rounded the corner of the building.
"Huh… oh, Rei. Argo told me you were headed here."
I whirled to my left, my vision greeted by the unmistakable feminine face and black eyes and hair. My eyes widened in surprise. "Ka… Kazu…" Upon seeing him, I buried my face in his chest and bawled my eyes out. So far I'd tried to avoid getting worked up over our situation, but seeing my friend in front of me made it too hard to bear; he reminded me of the real world, and in turn the fact that we couldn't go back to it.
Kirito was at a loss for what to do at first, but he rubbed my back and did his best to comfort me. After a few minutes, I managed to calm down. "S-Sorry… I just…"
"It's fine. Feeling a bit better now?"
I took a second to breathe to still my nerves. "Yeah…" We sat down on a nearby bench, neither of us saying anything for a little while. Eventually, I spoke up, trying to distract myself. "Um, why are you in town, anyways? I figured you'd be out grinding or something."
"Oh, right… Actually, I came back to get something to eat, I kinda forgot to bring anything with me..." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.
I rolled my eyes and took a piece of bread out of my inventory. "Of course you did. Here."
Kazuto thanked me for the bread and scarfed it down, grimacing at the dry blandness. "Bleh. We should really do that quest for the cream… Anyways, what're you at the blacksmith for? I thought the dagger from that quest would be better than anything here."
"Oh, well, I got a drop from an «Alpha Dire Wolf» on the way here…" I pulled the claw out of my inventory to take a look at it. It was extremely long, even for a wolf of the alpha's size; it was possible that a dagger made with it would have the claw as the blade itself. It was a yellowish off-white, and was fairly straight until the last few centimeters, where it curved downwards slightly before tapering to a point. "According to Argo, an NPC said it could be made into a dagger if it was handled properly."
"Hmm…" Kirito examined the claw. "Well, it's not metal, but it's not like we've ever come across it before. Still, it's kind of hard to match good quest items this early… Plus, the alpha wolves aren't too dangerous, compared to the monsters around Tolbana and in the labyrinth."
I grimaced when he said that. "Yeah, about that… It has a new attack, at least one that it never used before."
Kirito gave me a confused look, so I continued. "It charges like with its lunge attack, but instead of lunging it jumps high into the air, about three meters. I got out of the way at the last second, but I still took a nasty hit to the face… It took about 40% of my HP."
"40!? What level are you?"
"Er, Level 2, so along with my build, the damage I took was probably higher than most players would, plus it was a clean hit to the head… still, that wasn't even the full attack. It would've pinned me down if I hadn't moved." I shuddered, realizing how close I actually came to dying. That wolf definitely had a higher Strength stat than me...
"Did you tell Argo?"
"Well, yeah…" I wanted to get away from the topic of my near-death experience as fast as I could. "Let's go see if the NPC blacksmith can do anything with this claw." We got up and walked into the blacksmith shop. It was fairly basic; in front of us was a counter where the NPC stood, with an anvil, furnace, and other smithing workstations behind him. There were a few weapons hung up on the walls, and display cases lined up under them.
The NPC smith chirped a generic greeting. "Welcome! What can I do for you today?"
I walked up to the counter and held the wolf claw in front of me, choosing my words carefully so that the system would understand. "Can you make a weapon with this?"
The NPC looked at the claw for a moment, before exclaiming in recognition. "Ah! I've seen a claw like this once before. You must have gone to some length to get it. Unfortunately, I don't have the knowledge or the skill to make use of this… however, I know of someone who does."
"Who would that be?"
"Her name is Lynda. She lives on the western edge of the city… She's a very skilled smith, but she hasn't practiced the trade in quite some time. Even so, she's much more likely to be able to use this than me." A quest update notification appeared on the left of my vision.
"... I see. Thank you very much." I bowed slightly to the NPC smith and exited the shop, Kirito trailing behind me. "... Well, that's weird."
"Why?"
I opened my menu and navigated to the «Quests» submenu. There was one active quest: «Secret of the Lunar Cave». "Because Lynda is the NPC that gives the quest that has the «Lunar Dagger» as the reward… and this is the same quest."
"Huh. I guess… the claw is a new requirement to complete the quest?"
I shook my head. "I don't see why. The quest is about getting a special ore… although, I guess a wolf claw fits the theme… Did you get the quest?"
"Nope."
"Oh well. If you want the XP, you can start it by talking to Lynda… at least, you could in the beta. For all we know, this claw could be a new starting flag for the quest."
Kirito shrugged. "Well, let's go find out."
"Alright." I invited Kirito to a party, and sent him a friend request as well, since I hadn't yet. Once he had accepted them, we started heading for the west edge of Tolbana.
Author's Notes
Hey there! Thanks for taking the time to read my story! So, first off: I put the chapter title at the top of the chapter for both the Prologue and Chapter 1, but I'm going to remove that; the title is already displayed in chapter selection menu (and said menu makes the first line of text not centered with the rest of the chapter, which irks me to no end), and the mobile version of the site displays the chapter title at the top as well. I like the way it looks with it being centered at the top of the story and all, but the function is already built into the site, so no need to be redundant. Speaking of the chapter title, I had a hard time thinking of one that wasn't a horrible pun. Thankfully, I managed to avoid something too facepalm-y, but… meh.
Also, a thing: System Assist is a major function of the SAO system that, well, assists with all functions that one would not be able to do normally, such as Sword Skills, Sprinting, and various other Skills; in other words, it works to speed up players' movements. This doesn't mean, however, that Sword Skills are set in stone; as was already demonstrated, with sufficient skill it's possible to manipulate them. Moving with the Skill will speed it up, moving against it will slow it down (and end it prematurely), the angle and direction of the Skill can be altered somewhat, etc.
Can't think of anything else, so that's all for now. Take care!
P.S. Wow, okay, somehow I put 23rd instead of 7th in the date up at the top of the chapter. Fixed that.
